Dirt and Worms

There is a local custard place here and they have delicious custard concretes. My brother loves the Dirt and Worms concrete, which is vanilla custard with crushed Oreos and gummy worms.

For the last couple of years he couldn't have it because he had braces... the gummy worms are a no-go with braces. He recently had his braces removed after nearly three years, (YAY!) so now he can have gummy worms and the like.

As part of the celebration, we made Dirt and Worms for church. This variation is chocolate pudding. And it just might be better!

Here's what you need...

• 2 5.9 oz boxes of instant chocolate pudding and the amount of milk it calls for
• 1 package of Oreos (crushed. The food processor works great)
• 8 oz of cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 8 oz of Cool Whip
• Gummy worms

To begin, make the pudding in a large bowl according to the package.

Cream cheese and butter

Next, in your mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Then reduce the speed to add the powdered sugar. Once all of it is added, increase the speed so that the fluff is regained.

cream cheese and powdered sugar

Then, combined that with the chocolate pudding. You just fold them in, so that you don't lose the fluff. And once those two are combined, you fold the Cool Whip into it.

Adding the cream cheese mix and cool whip

Mud!

 And there's your mud! 

Now comes the fun part. Layering it. You alternate the mud and the crushed Oreos in your container. Use a container with clear sides so that you can see the layers. A trifle bowl, mason jars, or something of that nature. Once you have all of the layers you would like, add the gummy worms and some more Oreos to the top. This keeps pretty well in the fridge.

This recipe gets 5 out of 5 cat whiskers!
Mom found the recipe here.

Creme Brulee

French might be a weird language, but sometimes names sound better in French. Like Creme Brulee. It sounds fancy, like something you'd order off a menu on a whim.

Some fancy chocolate burnt creme.

In English, it means "burnt cream." Not really something that sounds too appealing. It sounds a little boring, to be honest. 
 
But I've got to tell you. I've made "burnt cream" and its delicious. It's appealing and the exact opposite of boring. I mean, anytime you can use a torch in the kitchen you're going to have a good time. I highly recommend making some Creme Brulee!

 Ingredients:

•  2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (of your choice, i used dark chocolate)
• 5 egg yolks
• sugar, for dusting

That's it! Just four ingredients!

The first step is to heat the heavy cream and 1/4 cup sugar in a pot, making sure to mix in the sugar. Heat this until it begins to simmer. Once it has begun to simmer, add the chocolate, being sure to whisk it until it's smooth.

In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar. 

Now, slowly pour the egg yolks into the cream mixture while whisking. You want to take your time. This part is a bit like pastry cream. Going slow minimizes the chance of ending up with cooked egg bits in your cream. I cannot emphasize enough that you need to constantly be whisking... so if you happen to need a second pair of hands to help, don't be afraid to ask.

Once its all combined, you can strain it through a sieve, if you want. I didn't because I was fairly confident that I had no egg bits, but it's all a matter of opinion.

Now, you can pour the cream into ramekins. You can fill them however full you'd like, they don't rise very much. Once the cream is in the ramekins, place them in a brownie pan and fill the pan with just enough water to reach halfway up the ramekins.

They bake at 250 for about an hour or until they're just set.

Let them cool on the counter until they can travel into the fridge. In the fridge, they really set up quickly, which makes it easier for burning sugar on the tops.

At the moment, I cannot find the video my brother made of me doing the top. When I do find it, I will add it.


Beware with these, they taste very, very delicious. This recipe definitely receives 5 out of 5 cat whiskers!!

I found the recipe here.
I also made a vanilla version. I need to find the pictures before I write a post for it, but don't worry... chocolate was better! :-)

The Chocolate Eyestravaganza

The gorgeous eyestravaganza

My brother's birthday theme was eyes. And his cake request was chocolate.

So I'm gonna call this cake the Chocolate Eyestravaganza.

Seriously. If you want a truly chocolate cake, this is for you.

The cake is no mere chocolate cake. It's an American Mud Cake. That means it tastes like a cross between a brownie and a cake. It's moist, it's chocolately, but that doesn't make it too rich.

The filling is whipped ganache. Whipped ganache, folks. It tastes like a cross between moose and a truffle, and it just melts on your tongue.

And the frosting is just regular ganache. (Hehe! As if any ganache is just run of the mill!)

Man, this cake was so fun!

Cranberry Fluff

Jello and whipped cream are one delicious,  sensational combination... right up there with peanut butter and jelly, popcorn and a movie, and Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake.

Cranberry Fluff is better than when you add whipped cream to jello. Seriously...I'm pretty certain you'll love it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cranberry juice
• 1 (16 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1 (3oz) package of raspberry Jello
• 1 cup cool whip or heavy whipping cream, whipped

The first step is to boil the cranberry juice.

Then you add the cranberries and the jello. Make sure you don't have powder clumps. And then you pour it into a bowl, cover it and let it chill in the fridge until it becomes jello (which is 4-5 hours in the fridge, or 2-3 in the freezer).

After it becomes jello, the fun part begins. Add the whipping cream or cool whip and just mix it until all of it is mixed in. Your jello should take on a more pinkish hue because it's fluff now.

And then you enjoy!

So far, we've tried 3 other variations: Pineapple, cranberry/cherry, and pineapple/orange. All of them are good. If you do the pineapple, be sure to add coconut on the top... It takes it up a notch!

This gets 5 out of 5 cat whiskers!
I found the recipe here.

Chocolate Zuchini Bread

Anyone who is familiar with growing Zucchini, knows that the zucchini plant is a wild, attention grabbing cross between a vine and a bush. And when you turn your back on it for a minute you'll have five new, rather large zucchinis on your hands (this year, one accidentally got to 5 Ibs!)

And one can only handle sautéd zucchini for so long before one gets bored. (Although these Zucchini Fritters are delicious).

For now, I'm just gonna tease you with pictures of the Chocolate Zucchini Bread that I made. This is because I didn't find the recipe on the interwebs. The recipe was given to me by my great grandma... it's a family recipe. I just got so excited about the final product that I had to add the pictures to my blog!

Happy Baking, Y'all!

Dangerous Donuts

I think this recipe might be one of the easiest I've ever done. It's definitely so easy, my cat could bake it :-)

We've made this a couple times now, and each time was delicious. This donut is the perfect cross between a cake donut and a airy donut. Maybe it's because they're fresh out of the hot oil or maybe it's something else. But they sure are good!

For this you will need...

• Canned biscuits (not the flakey, layer kind)
• Sugar in a bowl (for dusting)
• Oil (vegatable, Canola, or your preferred oil)

The first thing you need to do is start heating up the oil. We've used our skillet, but you could use a fryer or a stovetop pan. While that is heating, you want to open the biscuits and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Then you cut a hole in the middle of each one.

The second time we made these, we even cut holes in the donut holes... :-0

The next step is, once the oil is heated, put the donuts in and fry them however long you'd like. We do them until they're nice and golden, but it's up to you.

 

 Then let them sit on a paper towel for a minute or two, this lets the excess oil drip and it also allows them to cool slightly. Once you can pick them up without burning yourself, dust them in sugar. We have tried powdered sugar, regular sugar and brown sugar... I think that the regular granulated sugar tastes best, but once again, its up to you.

 And then, you get to ENJOY!!!

This gets 5 out of 5 cat whiskers!

I found this recipe Here.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake (From Scratch!)

I have been meaning to try baking a cake from scratch for a little while and I finally did it! It was awesome! So, without further ado...

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups flour
• ½ cup cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup hot, strong coffee (I used some of Mom's chocolate coffee!)

The first step is to combine all of the dry ingredients (but not the sugar) in a bowl and set aside.

Next, cream all of the wet ingredients (but not the coffee) together with the sugar. 

Once they are creamed together, slowly add the dry ingredients.

When the dry ingredients are all incorporated in the mix and when your coffee is brewed, slowly pour the hot coffee in against the side of the bowl while mixing. This is kind of like pastry cream, you DO NOT want to cook the eggs! Also, this batter will be thin, so don't worry!

Pour the batter into two, 8" rounds (make sure you spray the pans) and bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes. A knife should come out clean when inserted in the middle indicating that they are done.

Now you can finish this up however you'd like. This is what my brother and I did...

So, to do the cake justice, I added some raspberry jelly to the frosting and only frosted in between the two layers. 

And my brother makes an excellent Ganache, so, we drizzled ganache on top and down the sides until we agreed that it was perfect!

This recipe gets 5 out of 5 cat whiskers! It was simple and amazing. And it was sooooo moist. It's definitely better than a box mix and just as easy!

I found the recipe here.